thomson



Feb. 19,192 v 1615373 M 4 2g E g i iaml? Thozns'ow,

Feb. 19 1924.

w. P. THOMSON.

CONSTRUCTION FOR RAIL JGINTS Original Filed Jan. 17'. 1921 I 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 t I v I VVilliqm RI A/omen,

I 6mm Feb. 19, 1924. Re. 15,773' W. P. THOMSON CONSTRUCTION FOR RAIL JOINTS Original Filed Jan- 17 1921 s Sheets-Sheet s Mrivssszs:

To all uihom it may concern:

25 s zed to take u dated October 10,1911.

Rama Feb. 19, 1924.

"UNITED STA rrzs' PATENT o -"Flea.

. r. monson, or m YORK, n. Y., sssrenon are run nan. m comm,

- or mrw roan, n. m, A coaronn'rron or mrw 2031.

cons'rauc'rron roa" mun :onrrs.

I Orllllial No. 1,874,789, dated April 1!, 1H1, Serial reissue ma September :9, 192a. Serial no. ceases.

Be it known that I, WILLIAMP. THOM- SON, a citizen of the United States, anda 'resident of New York, county of New York,

5 and State of New York, have invented new, and Improvements in Construction forlRail Joints, of'which the following is "a s cification.

a is invention relates to rail 'joint con in struction and has particularly in' view, a

"novel combination of features in the construction and mounting of a rail jointintended to provide an adequate remedy correcting certain defects due to present pracu ,tice.

- Primarily it is the urpose of the inven' tion to-provide a wel designed joint bar having its head bar structure "so related to the-web and underside of the rail head as to'provide for a novel seating andadjustment of the bar, obtainin anew ratio of transverse to vertical sti ness, whilealso meeting all the requirements of a good splice having the facilities for being readily tlghtwear and looseness, at, the same time esta lishing an exce tional rela: tion of vertical resiliency an transverse v stability. This exceptional relation of vertical resilienc and transverse stability is delies a rigid and powerful transversegrlp on the uppeirportion of the vrail within a region which is closer to the center ofgravity ofthe rail than has hitherto been the common" practice, thus assuring abso- 36 lutejly true rail head alinement while at the same time reducing or freeing alt0g'ether,

1 the rail'head fromsplice bar bearing so as to leave the rail head, with approximately? the'same reeiliency'at the joint as it has else A. where along-the rail. Thi freedom of the rail head vertically will have the 'efl'ect of reducing the tendenc of the rails to batter at their ends and wil also permit'the load: wave to pass'the joint under-practically the.

46 same conditions thatit advances along the' unbroken rail. In those particulars, the

, present invention represents an improvement upon and carrym forward of the 1nvention of my former atent No. 1,005,583,

The particular ob ect'of the invention, in

additionlto perpetuating the desirable fea Ho. 437,088, aledlanuary 17, 1981. Application tor tures of the'joint construction of m Pat- I to stand away from the'rail web to an extent which increases in direct the increase in the amount 0 fullness in the fishin distance which results from the rolling to erance. These conditions are faing faces of the rail not only makes the joint very rigid vertically but also causes the bar roportion to miliar to those-acquainted with track main-' tenance and rolling mill practices, and

bpth stand-pointg-are objectionable.

From a track maintenance stand-point, it

is a defect tohave even a slight 'advancement of the splice .bar outwardly from its normal location, because such a condition usually brings .the outer surface of the top corner of the'head ofthe splicevoar into the region of interference with the wheel flan es. Also the wed ing on both fishing sur aces referred tolea s to a defect from a track maintenance stand-point because wear 7 of the rail and splice bar in service alters the fishing distance of the railland of the splice bar producing looseness of fit, and

furthermore bendin and stretching of the the'splice bars. The above enumerated, as well as other defects considered from the'sta'ndf track maintenance are remedied by t e present invention. The defects and difiiculties due to present bolts invariably fol ows such loosening of int-of rolling fmill practices are, as indicated, an important consideration. "Principal among.v

thesegis. the difiiculty', in the rolli mill,

keeping within tolerances for fis ing dis I v tances which would produce even reason'abl satisfactoryfit of thesplice bar tothe rai The present jinve'ntion is intended togive much greater rolling tolerance which facilitates designing the arto fit several sections of'rail which vary only slightly in the height of the fishing distance of the rail or in the degree 'of 'angularity of the fishing surface of the underside ofthe rail head; This 'advantage involves substantiaLeconoinies 'in i splice bar to the rail.

' Furthermore, another rtant attribute;

, of the present invention, 181! novel redelaterally,

.' 100 joint,

signing of the bar head so that the section; modulus of the top of anyparticular s lice bar is substantially greater thanthat of the corresponding s lice bar which hasa to conforming to t e generally recognized .01

angle bar form. Therefore, an Lmorta nt' object of the invention is to so m i the type of splice bar having its head enlargled f or both laterally and vertica y,

combined with a novel method of application and maintenance, as to preserve all of the desirable structural advantages of the type of bar now-generally known as the while at the same time satisfactorily meeting the defects rowing out of the present practice above referred to.

with these and such other objects in view, as will more readily appear to those familiar Iwith the subject, the invention consists in the novel structural features and combination of elements hereinafter more'particularly described, illustrated and claimed. The invention, havin the scope indicated, is necessaril structura modi' cation 'without de arting from the spirit or princi le thereof, ut for illustrative ur oses, a ew preferable and practical em iments of the invention; are shown ,in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 .is an endview of a joint bar and rail combining to provide the features of the present invention, the view includin dotted mes of certain planes, to which tfi construction bears an operative relation.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the head ortion' of the bar and theupper portion o the rail, showing by exaggeration the uliarly novel relation which is maintain between the head of the bar, and the web and head 0f the rail, the full and dotted lines repre- ."u ient ng two positions taken b the bar head.

, Fig. 3 is a view similar to ig'. 1 exemplifying the range-of tolerance. rmitted by the resent invention between t e upper side of t e bar head and the fishing bearing of the rail head.' i

Fig. 4 is an end view of a joint bar and of a rail showing the ap lication of the imrovements to a splice ase supportin member.

Fig. 5' is a etail view showing a modifiar .having no rail cation of the'invention wherein an intervening spacer provides the solid metal bearing of i1the inner part-of the bar head against the 6b .Lik e' iefierenees designate corresponding susce tib e of a wide range'of e joint parts in the several figures of the drawings.

The present improvements are applica le to variousshapes and forms of ra l joint bars, but possess special utility in connection with the Thomson and Thomson 100% joint construction. That construction. is realized i in .a given splice bar wherein. the section modulus of its to is substantially greater than that of a splice bar' whose to conforms to the' generally recognized 01 angle bar form. In such given sp ice baro'f 'the .100% t pe referred to, the head of the bar usua y-laterally enlarged, as well as' mat'ei'allydeepened to obtain a head .of great strength, and the present invention takes the fullest advantageof this feature of the bar and of considerably greater latitude in both the-widening and deepening of the head without causing or even permittingwheel flange interference. Therefore, for the purposes of the present application, there. is'shown in Fig. 1 of'the drawings a joint bar 1 of the type having an enlarged widened head. 2. Also in" the illustrated form, the said joint bar 1 is of the: continuous .or base supporting type of joint, em loying a rail base supporting member 3. T e head 2 of the bar, according to the present invention, bears a definite operative relation to the rail Rhaving the usual web W and head 4.-

"It also bears a definite relation to a certain working area defined approximately at least by certain ints and planes, as for instance the lon itu inal vertical plane aa bisectin 1 the rai head fishing shrface, the horiz'onta plane b'b which bisects the said fishing surface of the rail head, the vertical plane c-c intersecting the outermost portion, of

the head ofthe rail, the vertical plane d1i beingtangent to the curving'side of the rail web, the vertical plane ee within wh ch is normally located the outer vertical bolting face of the joint bar and. the horizontal plane f f lying at the top of the bolt holes through'the rail.

It will now be seen from what is demonstrated b Fig. 1 of the drawings, that the enlarged ead 20f the joint bar is provided with-a top clearance surface 5, an outer corner truncation 6 and an inner head pro ection 7., .As shown, the feature of truncating the outer corner of the head of the bar as at 6 is intended to'make the bar sufliciently low at this point, under all conditions and under allad'ustments as to produce completeand safe w eel flange clearance without in any way interfering with the distribution of metal in the latera enlargement of the head maki I a head section of any prescribed strengt In "conjunction wit the outer corner truncation 6, the top clearance surface .5 of the joint bar representsthat feature of the invention which provides for considerable latitude in the rolling mill tolerance. That is to say, according to the pres ent invention, it is proposed to reduce the height of'the bar to allow considerable mill I gf the harfifnd having tolerance, rang:ngobetween the horizontal lt holes and thetop edge reduced or no contact with the under si e of the rail head. The tolerance referred to de nds lar ly upon-the hei ht of the fishing istance o the rail but in 51 cases allows greater latitude to in rolling than is permissible. under present process of rolling, thus.

ractice. Clearance, either partial or entire rom the fishing surface of the rail head necessarily provides this wide range of tole'r-.

ance in theheight of splice bars, in the atly simplifying and cheapening the rol mg process at the same time keeping the uppler outertip of the bar sufliciently inside of t e wheel flange in terference to permit a fin to occur at that :0 point of the bar .withoutthe expensive necessity of removing such fin.

The inner head projection 7 of the" bar plays an important function in combination with the fillet joining the web and head as of the rail and with the rail web W which .outwardly inclining surfaces against which has a cross-sectional wedge formation ag- Egox'imately above the center line of t e lt holes, thereby presenting upwardly and the bar head bears and rides. In other words, the inner head abutment or projec-' 'tion of the bar head has. a sliding bearing contact with the i1 wardly and outwardly I inclining surfaceo the railweb, so that .as

the, inner head bearings of the splice bars extending from the top of the bar to a oint below the plane f-f at the top-of the It holes,.thus'presenting a wide and substantial abutment for engagement with the rail, but it is to be observed that the upward and outward movement of the head of each splice bar, when bearing directly upon the upper part of the rail web, and in some instances upon the u per fillet connecting the :3 webwith the hea serves to decrease the frictional bearing area. of the s lice bar head on the .rail web by reason'o its'contacting with the rail along only narrow lines of contact. ,This is graphicall shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. The line USE/iii! of this figure represents the bar ea 1 a tact :wi e rail but.. under the iny-mus n! othermu isfrfa upwardly and outwardly on. the

tion. This is shown by the an initial'broadbearing 001 h};

uglwa'rdly and outwardly inclining part of t reducing the bearing on the rail to the narrow lines of contact 99 at the inner upper and. lower corners of the bar head. is

.is brought "about without bringing the top of the bar into contact with the under side of the-rail head or without carrying the outer corner of the ,bar into' the zone of wheel flange interference. This "decrease in e rail,- resulting in carrying the major part of the; head out of contact with the rail weband the frictional bearing area of the contact of the splice bar head with the rail permits the rail more freely to expand and contract longitudinally vthan when. gripped by the whole area of the inner face of the splice barhead, particularly when clamped with such unyielding force as is obtained by the use of high tensile bolts. This object is attained with practically no variation in the out-to-out distance between the bolting faces 8 of the opposite splice bars, such distance being measured along the center line ofthe .bolts, and without diminishingthe tolerance allowed by the clearance between the .head of the bar and the underside of the head of the rail.

By way of illustrating the range 'of modification that may be resorted to in the carrying out of the invention, there is shown" in Fig. 3 of the drawings a form wherein the inner head projection of the bar takes a solid fulcrum bearing against the portion of the rail at and adjacent the fillet between the web and the under side of the rail headand the top surface 5 of-the bar head has a reduced contact with the underside .of the rail head. That is to. say, the top surface 5 of 'thebar head has contact with what maybe termed the inner portion. of the rail head fishing surface inside of the previously defined longitudinal vertical plane a-a but has clearance from that outer ortion of the rail head fishing surface whi o,f-the plane a,a the clearance preferably commencing at said longitudinal vertical plane H which corresponds with the intersection of the planes aa and b-b; In all other respects, the modified form of Fig. 3.

has the same structural and functional charlies outside llx) acteristics' as the primary form of the inven- I I tion already described.

Furthermore, th not-only to a base supporting type of bar but also to .a splice bar of the non-base suporting type, an exampleof which is shown -m Fig. 4 of the drawings. In this illustration, a further example is ven of the range e resent invenar 01' Fig. 4

of toleraneeallowed by ing surface of the '-railhead. with invention is applicable exceedingly limited contact with e clear nce commencing at a point insidewe inside of the ing outward so as to not interfere-with the feature of an enlarged widened head and safe wheel flange clearance.

- While the forms of the invention so far described have represented the preferable" feature of having direct metal contact between the inner part of the bar head and the rail, a structural modification which maybe bar designed to carry out the principle of made in that respectis to insert an intervening metallic spacer-plate 10 between the'rail 'and the inner part of the'bar head, as 'in some cases it might be desirable to introduce this additional element, for instance to permit a splice bar not integrall embodying this improvement to function t e same as a this invention, but its use in no way inter feres with the full functioning of the inventhe bar to ride upwardly and outwardly due to the upwardly and outwardly inclining tion as herein pointed out.

- By way of briefly recapitulating the function mechanically of the combination of fea'- tures described, it will be noted that'after the bolts are tightened normally, the base of the bar may be mauled or'driven inwardly, rotating the bar on a longitudinal axis located approximately within the 'region of the bolt holes causing the head of part of the rail and, thereby canting the outer bolting face 8 (lying w thin the plane ee) toward and against the upper portions of-the nuts, thls action'slightly canting the w said-bolting face from its normal vertical.

plane, and serving to act as a nut look, at the same time decreasing the frictional bear- 1 ing of the splice bar on theupper portionof the rail with such forms of the invention as 'shown in Fi 1 and '2. As previously pointed out, t is adjustment occurs without materiallyspreading the out-to-out distance between the oppositesplice bars along the plane of the center line of the bolt holes,

thereby obviating excessiveincrease of bolt strain. The described action does not bring the up r outer corner of the head of the bar into th: region of interference with the wheel flanges, and takes place regardless of whether the top edge of the head of the bar is partiallyin contact with the rail header is entirely out of' contact therewith. In those cases where contact occurs between the head of the bar and therail head, such contact is limited .tothe inner portion of the fishing bearing of the rail head, preferably plane a-a bisecting' said -fishingrbearing I urther, in reference to the matter of contact of the splice bar head with the under side of the rail head, suchconta'ct may be,-

entirel omitted, thus givin still 'ater mill to erance, when the bar is embo ied in the continuous or base-supporting type of "bar but, with'the a labor or fice w as own in'Fig. 4 o the drawings,

as will at the duced bearingcontact such asindicated tween the'head of the bar and the head of the railhas'a desirable structural advanta e,

art. j From the foregoing, it is thought that the construction and functioning of'the'combination of features specially pointedout will appear to those 'familiarwith t e v m be apparent Without further description and it is understood that changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may .be resorted to without'd'eparting'from the spirit or sacrificing anyof the advantages of the invention.

I claim .1. A rail joint, including the rail, clamping bolts, a splice bar having head clearance from the under side of therail head and a I loading engagement at the head fillet of the rail.

2. A railj'oint, including the rail, clamping bolts, and asplice bar having clearance. from the under side of the rail head and an inner head projection which .has an upwardly and outwardly sliding,,bolt-tightening engagement with the rail head fillet.

3. -A rail joint, including .the rail, clamp- 1 ing bolts, and a splice bar having clearance from the under side of the rail head and an engagement with the rail. head fillet to bring the head of the bar' into solid resistance to load deflections.

4. A rail joint, including the rail, clamping bolts, and 1a splicej bar having clearance from the outer portion of the under side of the rail head, said splice bar having a head extending out'wardlybeyond the outer edge of. the rail head and having an engagement:

with the rail head fillet to bring. the head of the bar into solid resistance .to load defies tions. I

5. A rail joint, including-the rail, clamphaving a head whichextends outwardly beyond the outer edge of the rail head' and which has an upwardly and outwardly'sliding bolt-tightening engagement with the, rail .head fillet, said engagement beingentirely.

inside of the inner boundary of the flat fishing surface of the rail head. i

ing bolts, and a splice bar having clearance from the under side of the rail head and 6. A rail joint, including the rails, clamp ing bolts, the opposite joint bars havin clearance from the under sides of the rail heads and having heads which extend outwardly beyond the outer'ed'ges of the rail heads and which have upwardly .and outwardly sliding bolt-tightening engagement with the rail head fillets, each of the said bars having an axis of rotation substantially holes.

7. A'. rail joint, includingtherails, clamp ing bolts, the opposite oint bars having clearance from the outer portions of the plane of the center line of the bolt eachof t said barshaving a longitudinal surface, and a portion of said underlying all of said rail head axis of rotation substantially within the region of the bolt holes.

8. A rail joint, including the rail, clamping bolts, and a splice bar having clearance from the under side of the rail head and having a head which has an-outer truncated corner portion which extends outwardly beyondthe outer edge of the rail head and which has clearance from wheel flanges, the head-of said bar also having an upwardlyand outwardly sliding bolt-ti hteni ng engageinent with the rai head fil et.

9. The combination with the rail and clampin bolts, of a splice bar having a head which is broader horizontally thau'the fishing surface of the head of the rail which it is designed to fit, all the top surface of said head being free from contact with the outer portion of said rail head fishing tog surface fis ing surface, t e head of said splice bar having a sliding bolt-tightening engagement with the head fillet ofthe rail. T

10.=The' combination with the rail and clamping bolts, of a splice bar having a railfillet bearing head, part of the top of which underlies and .is free from contact with the outer portion of the fishing surface of the rail head, and also having anupright outer face for bolt fastening bearings the free top portion of said splice bar hea intersecting two parallel vertical planes which are sepaand a s lice bar having offthe' disengaged portion of the fishing surface of the rail bead, one of said'planes be-v ing the plane of thebolt fastening bearings and the other of said planes being at the and the splice bar.

11, The combination with the rail and clamping bolts, of a splice bar. havin a innermost line of\cont'act between the rail head-loading engagement. and exten ng fro'urthe rail web through and beyond a vvertical plane at the outer-most pa'rtof the rail head, all. of the top of 'saidsplice bar head being free from contact withthe'rail head above a horizontal plane which bisects the fishing surface of the rail head, and a part of. said splice bar head which lies below 7 said horizontal plane being firmly in contact with the head fillet.- l

12. In a rail joint, a, rail, clamping bolts,

ahead which'ex-, tends su stantially outward beyond thetedge of the rail head, sa'id splice bar head being free from contact with approximately the outer .half ofthe rail head fishing surface and having a greater extent of initial bear- 7 ing on the rail between the cehter of the bolt holes and the inside boundary of the flat fishing surface of the rail head 'than it has on said-flat fishingsurface of the rail head,

to bring the head of the spli ,bar into-solid resistance to load deflections.

In testimony whereof I hereunto ailiix' my signature in the press cc of two witnesses WILLIA P. THOMSON Witnesees: a r

KATHIRIRE Mo ma. P 

